Paintings and photographs line the walls above an array of eclectic furniture, a chalkboard over a small bar advertises loose-leaf teas, and jazz plays softly in the background.

Such a setting might be commonplace in the arts district on Santa Fe Drive near downtown Denver, but Foothills Green Gallery is in a South Jeffco strip mall, surrounded by subdivisions and several miles away from the nearest artsy hangout.

Bowles Crossing Shopping Center has been rezoned to allow for a redevelopment that could include more buildings and residential apartments.

The mall’s owner, PERA Bowles Inc., requested the 53.9-acre property be rezoned to allow for more stores and for mixed uses, which could include apartments.

Only six buildings had been allowed previous to the rezoning, which was approved unanimously by the Jeffco Planning Commission on April 23 and then the county commissioners on their May 13 consent agenda.

Pepper opened her own flower shop, Autumn Flourish, with boyfriend Dan Tri after 17 years of arranging flowers and crafting corsages for other companies. Their store on the southeast corner of West Bowles Avenue and South Kipling Parkway celebrated its grand opening last week.

The Venters got tired of vying for meeting space at a busy Starbucks, so they decided to open their own coffee shop in downtown Littleton.

The result is Spur, a Littleton hipster spot with a decidedly European flavor. Spur Coffee Ltd. has a coffee bar with its own pastry case, and a meeting room that opened in November. The Venters’ design studio, co-working space and coffee shop is in a former beauty school at 5624 S. Prince St., a block north of Littleton’s trendy downtown restaurants and shops.

The county and the Jeffco Economic Development Corp. are close to completing an agreement to develop a database of potential commercial property.

As part of the agreement, the county will help create an inventory of commercial properties of more than 10 acres, along with land identified in community plans for potential commercial rezoning. The database would then be used by a real-estate advisory committee in the EDC to help pair businesses looking to expand with potential locations.

The Jeffco Economic Development Corp. is about to have a $300,000 funding agreement with the county finalized this week.

The contract was delayed while the county commissioners and the EDC clarified two new provisions requiring the economic development group to submit a work plan for approval and to present quarterly reports to the commissioners.